No food in the house and no ideas on what
to eat. Yelp to the rescue! A few moments later and we have a new place to try.
Here is how I evaluate Yelp stars – 3 Stars or less then you stay away (unless
you like food poisoning, poor quality Mexican Food or you are under the
mistaken impression the food at Chilli’s is good), 4 stars the place is
probably somewhere between good and great and lastly 5 stars which means the
place is excellent if there are a ton of reviews or if there are only 20
reviews it means the business posted their own reviews and you should stay away.
For the evening we are willing victims at a restaurant called Ambrosia. Yelp had it listed as Asian food but it really was an Asian (of East and South varieties) tapas restaurant. The place was crammed into a house at the edge of a neighbourhood (par for course in Houston), twas pretty busy and we ate next to the bar (but not at the bar) on a table that was a weird height. The food was pretty varied and good. We had chicken samosas, curried chips (fries to most of you reading) and stir fried Bok Choy. I would eat there again and give it a respectful 4/5 stars.
Saturday
Travelling to PTQs is the worst. You choose to wake up way, way earlier than you would for anything else in the world or you can pay to stay a night in a hotel which is about the worst EV you can imagine (unless you win). So here I am staring at my phone as it buzzes at 4:10 am. I have 20 minutes to get showered and ready before driving to my friend’s house to carpool. Problem number one, I left my travel mug at work…L Hot tea is impossible to find anywhere but independent coffee shops and Starbucks. I resign myself to my fate of having to consume ice tea and pack up my cards and hit the road.
Loran and I get on the road earlier than
expected because I made great time getting to his house. Our first stop along
the way is at Bucees for petrol (gas), snacks and breakfast (but no hot tea). I
buy some Garlic Beef Jerky amongst other things. Quite delicious, though very overpriced.
They will give you samples though before you “choose” the one you want. So make
sure to get some sampling in!
My list for battling at the PTQ is a
totally stock Mono Blue main deck and a pretty stock sideboard though mine is a
little heavier on the counters than some versions.
Mono Blue –
I play dudes and smash face. Then after
sideboard I bring in counters and do the same thing.
Round 2 – Mono Black (Mike Vandyke)
I win a game where I mulligan to 5 then get
double thoughtseized.
Round 3 – Mono Black (Chris Jabr)
We split two close games and then I win the
race in game 3.
Round 4 – B/W Aggro
G1 – I play a 1/4 that stops his whole
team.
G2 – I play a Nightveil Specter which stops
his whole team.
Maybe his draws were a little lacklustre
but really how BW aggro is a deck is beyond me (Disclamier I don’t play much
standard).
Then this happened.
0-4
Round 5 – GR Monsters
G1 – My opponent mulls to 5 but keeps his
cool and plays to the best of his ability. On either side of us we have players
fussing at their opponents because of their “bad luck” and how lucky their
opponent is. #Reallifemodochat. My opponent and I just look at one another and
feel happy that we are both being civil to one another.
G2 – My start is a little slow and he
manages to kill my Tidebinder mage before playing a 5/5 Mistcutter Hydra while
he is still at a high enough life total that I cannot race. I also have drawn
no Mutavaults.
G3 – My start is pretty good but my double
Tidebinder mage draw is slaughtered by his double mortars. Then mid game he
overloads another mortars that I cannot play around.
My opponent kept his cool after some bad
luck in Game 1 and I feel like the matchup can be a little rough for me unless
my Tidebinder Mage’s survive so I didn’t mind losing too much. Plus the loss
came pretty late in the day so I was still in contention for Top 8 as long as I
went back to winning.
Round 6 – UW Control
I saw this guy playing the round before so
I knew he was on UW control which has been a pretty good matchup for me in the
past.
G1 – He gets to Sphinxes Revelation and my
clock is a little slow.
G2 - He gets to Sphinxes Revelation and my
clock is a little slow.
Round 7 –Mono Black (Bernie)
He curves out perfectly game 1 and I have a
slow draw but try my best to stay in it.
Game 2 he leads with Thoughtseize again and
is slightly surprised to see dispel. He has another Thoughtsieze though and
manages to run away with the game from there.
Round 8 – Black White
G1 – I get crushed by ye ole pack rat.
G2 – I crush him with 1 drop, 2 drop,
Thassa.
G3 – I keep my seven and he Double
Thoughtseizes the following hand. 3 Island, Frostburn Weird, Nightveil, Thassa,
Master of Waves. He takes Nightveil and Thassa. Then he proceeds to kill every
creature I play before eventually playing a pack rat.
Well that is the end of that.
For dinner I gather a group of friends and
again go to Yelp to rescue us from a potential bad food situation. The results
are us going to eat at Fattboy Burgers and Dogs. The place was greasy and
delicious. I had a Burger & Fries and it was pretty damn good. Bonus
surprise was that I had Italian Cream Cake ice cream for dessert.
With our bellies full we headed back on the
road to make our trip back home.
We are half way home when the below
happens….
BLOWN UP TIRE!
And that pretty sums up the day - #BLOWOUT.
-Cheers-
